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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that cricket is shit?

156 replies

Cheeseoncrumpets · 03/08/2019 20:50

I dont get it. Its so monotonous and seems to go on forever and the scoring is all over the place. Its all wickets and runs and overs. At least with football when the ball goes into the net you know that someone has scored, same with rugby when the ball go over the line. But cricket just completley and utterly baffles me and always has. Yet some people seem to really love it. Yesterday I saw a bloke who was clearly meant to be working sneakily watching the Ashes on his mobile phone, its obviously rivetting to some.

Its just boring shit though, isnt it?

OP posts:
LatteLove · 04/08/2019 09:59

Why was us winning in the first bit yesterday apparently not winning really

Because they play 2 innings and they’d only just played one. So although England had scored better than Australia in the first innings it could go to shit

cheesenpickles · 04/08/2019 09:59

YABU

bellabasset · 04/08/2019 10:01

My dh was cricket mad, he both played as well as going to Test matches. I learned to score so understood why it is a fascinating game. We used to live in Norfolk near the estate Blowers grew up in and my dh played sometimes for their team on a Sunday. He also played and captained for a local team as well as league cricket when we lived in London.

The village teams were very social affairs with the children, wives, parents turning up at tea or for a drink. We had friends who would park their car near the clubhouse, change their dcs into pyjamas and then put them in sleeping bags till they went home.

I now sometimes watch the cricket at Lanhydrock

PerrysWinkle · 04/08/2019 10:04

YANBU. I mean, who has 5 whole days to dedicate to one match?

Floralnomad · 04/08/2019 10:05

I’ve not read the whole thread but YABVU , cricket is an excellent sport in all its forms . I grew up watching my dad playing local cricket and got totally hooked . I don’t get to watch as much test cricket as I’d like as the rest of my household aren’t so keen but limited over and T20 is a must . The IPL is the highlight of my TV viewing year . The fact that you cannot be bothered to learn the extremely limited rules says more about you than the game .

MereDintofPandiculation · 04/08/2019 10:07

Where do the points come from when it just seems to be a guy batting and not moving. To save effort, if it's obvious that the batsmen would have time to run from one end to the other several times, there is a rule that says if the batsman hits the ball across the boundary he gets 4 runs credited to him, and if he gets it across the boundary without it bouncing, he gets 6 runs.

And unlike children's back garden cricket, they're not allowed to continue running while the fielding team borrows a net from a nearby angler and tries to retrieve the ball from the lake next to the pitch.

To stop the bowler cheating by bowling balls that are too far to the side to be hit, if he bowls a "wide", the batting team is credited with 1 run.

It's a game with a long history - it's built up a lot of rules to deal with specific situations, like what happens if the ball hits one fielder and is caught by a second - does that still count as a catch? What happens if a fielder gets in the batsman's way when he's running between wickets and as a result he is "run out"?

MereDintofPandiculation · 04/08/2019 10:14

Oh dear, just cross posted with Floralnomad who refers to "extremely limited rules"! But agree with "The fact you cannot be bothered... says more about you than the game" ...though only in the sense it says you have no desire to try to understand cricket (no-one can learn everything, we all have to select the things we're going to learn about).

Why is everything called a wicket.
It isn't, only the wickets are.

I think there's some truth in this comment - the wicket is the oblong of grass between the two sets of stumps, which are also called wickets, and if a batsman is out, the bowler has "got a wicket".

ivyjames · 04/08/2019 10:18

I am a cricket convert. DP is a huge fan, and over time I've come to love it. We've been to test matches and ODI's. I managed to get tickets for a cricket World Cup game last month, and next month we are off to The Oval for the Ashes.
I don't fully understand all of the rules and cricketing terminology, and I'm not sure I ever will.
The atmosphere at a match is fantastic and I've always had a great day out. DP is delighted that I am now a fan as is my dad. I will also add that I am a huge football fan, but there's just something about spending an afternoon relaxing and watching the cricket!

FrancesFryer · 04/08/2019 10:26

It's a game with a long history - it's built up a lot of rules to deal with specific situations

Yes like where your fielders can stand based on 5 matches in 1932

FrancesFryer · 04/08/2019 10:29

The amount of people who applied for tickets for the India/Pakistan game in the world cup could have filled the stadium 35 times.

There have been only 2 other sporting events this year in any sport where more people asked for tickets

Bagadverts · 04/08/2019 10:33

I don’t understand cricket. A chart can help to know where everyone is standing. This one is quite simple.

Also the listen to test match special on the radio, usually radio 4 long wave or 5live extra bbc especially if game played off for rain, its great even if you aren’t that interested in cricket.

NaughtToThreeSadOnions · 04/08/2019 10:36

dear, just cross posted with Floralnomad who refers to "extremely limited rules"! But agree with "The fact you cannot be bothered... says more about you than the game" ...though only in the sense it says you have no desire to try to understand cricket (no-one can learn everything, we all have to select the things we're going to learn about)

I think all sports can be either about a set of "extremely limited rules" or massively complicated. The OP shows a great example shecthinks to understand football all you need to know is when the ball goes in the back of the net its a point. Erm no, not nessarilly there's the massively complicated off side rule, there when something is a penalty or a free kick wether or not its a direct free kick or an indirect one, wether the keeper is allowed to handle the ball if its a pass back, wether the studs are to high, wether a player is showing disent, the list of rules goes on and on of complicated rules and details you can chose to look further in to or you can simplify it as if the ball goes in the back of the net its a point. You can simplify cricket as the other team throws a ball at you you hit it and the points come from how many times you can run between the sticks. Or you can start to understand the difference between bowled out, run out, LBW, you can process the fours and 6s. Which make it more complicated. To know a little about the game you only need to know the simplified explination of the game.

As for why does winning the first bit mean england arent winning surely the answers in the question its just a bit. Winning any bit of the game doesn't mean you win. In football you could be 1-0 up at half time, so winning the first bit but if the opposition score 2 in the second half and you dont score any you've not won. In tennis you might win the first set but given theres at least 2 more sets (womens) and 4 more in mens then it means very little to be winning the first part in any sport.

Stillstrawberrywater · 04/08/2019 10:39

My ex bf took me to a England cricket game once. It's a great day out. You basically sit there slowly getting drunk singing songs. Really good atmosphere. It's much better than watching it on television anyway.

Rivkka · 04/08/2019 10:42

I thought it was boring until I went to some matches.

The atmosphere is great and the drinks flow all day.

World Cup final wasn't in the least boring unless you don't understand the game, when it might have been a bit confusing

bananasandwicheseveryday · 04/08/2019 10:44

The cricket matches I have been to have always had a great atmosphere. At one of the finals, our seats were in among a huge crowd of opposition supporters. There was no nastiness, no fear that if we showed our support for our team we would get attacked, either physically or verbally. At lunch and tea, people chatted to each other and even shared some drinks and food. And at the end, when our team won on the last ball of the match, they congratulated us. Somewhat different to my experiences at football finals especially when you consider that at football, great care is taken to segregate opposing fans. Who h means that the sheer nastiness I heard going on around me was from people supposedly on the same side.

It's a shame more people don't take the time to learn at least some of the rules and to spot the nuances in choosing whether to bat first, where to place your fielders etc. On the few occasions I saw dc2 play when he was at school, I never heard any parents encouraging their child to ' take out' an opposing player, or saw the umpires threatened when they made a decision parents disagreed with.
As for the terminology, not 'everything's is a wicket just as in football not everything is a goal or in rugby, a try. And as for the 'complicated ' rules, half the time, I'm not sure that even footballers understand the offside rule!
If you don't like it, you don't like it. But as a pp said, it's rude to insult something you don't understand, rather like the example given about teenagers liking different types of music.

SadieBaneso · 04/08/2019 10:57

YANBU. I personally find the whole thing as dull as ditchwater. I suspect if the title of this thread had been “football is shit” a lot of those frothing at the mouth on here would be piling on to agree and we all know why. (Two words - working class).

JacquesHammer · 04/08/2019 10:58

I suspect if the title of this thread had been “football is shit” a lot of those frothing at the mouth on here would be piling on to agree and we all know why. (Two words - working class).

My response would have been the same. It’s puerile to describe something as “shit” because (a) you don’t like it and (b) you don’t understand it.

NaughtToThreeSadOnions · 04/08/2019 11:38

suspect if the title of this thread had been “football is shit” a lot of those frothing at the mouth on here would be piling on to agree and we all know why. (Two words - working class) d

Not been here long? There were plenty of threads during both nens and womens football world cups about how football was a nasty sport and even to the extent of posters suggesting it should be banned etc every thread was treated in the same way as this one ie its ridiclous to brand a sport as shit or nasty jusf cos you dont like it or understand it.

Football is my favorite sport prefer it over cricket but my step dad pprefers cricket over football so we both take an interest inboth.

howwudufeel · 04/08/2019 11:44

I love cricket. It’s exciting that at any moment something could (and usually does) which can turn the whole match. I am terrible at relaxing so I love the fact I have to sit down and just focus on the game.

Original poster
Cheeseoncrumpets · 04/08/2019 12:15

People keep saying that the atmosphere is better at cricket and the fans are all well behaved. Didnt you see how the Indian and Pakistani fans behaved at the world cup only a few ago? It was all over the news. They were like football hooligans!

OP posts:
fussychica · 04/08/2019 12:26

YABU I love it in all its forms though I admit I do prefer 20 or 50 over games, usually because I can't get to see the whole of a test match. On the other hand I'm not a rugby fan.
Each to their own.

FaFoutis · 04/08/2019 12:28

YANBU. All sport is shit.

JacquesHammer · 04/08/2019 12:31

It was all over the news

Newsworthy because of its rarity...

Halloumimuffin · 04/08/2019 12:37

People seem to have taken me very seriously when I was joking, although I appreciate the replies. I'm well aware of how multiple day sports work Wink

I suppose some people like the long term complexity of it and for others that might be exactly what is boring about it. It seems to lack the 'highs' of other sports although I accept it might just appear that way to me. I'm an NFL fan and that really can be the most boring and tedious game to watch for many so I do understand!

Now formula 1: that's boring.

FrisbeeParty · 04/08/2019 12:38

YANBU